Ducks fend off Beavers in hostile Civil War
■ Guard Kourtney Shreve hits
two clutch free throws to lift
Oregon past Oregon State
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
CORVALLIS — Nobody said that
three-peating as Pacific-10 Confer
ence champions would be easy.
Nor did anyone say it could be
harmful to the Ducks’ health.
But the first step of the journey was
both Friday night in Corvallis, as the
Oregon women’s basketball team (8-3
overall, 1-0 Pac-10) bruised and bat
tered its way to victory, 71-67, over
Oregon State (8-3, 0-1) in the first of
two Civil Wars.
A raucous green and orange crowd
of 3,044 witnessed a game so physi
cal that both teams were issued dou
ble personal fouls and double techni
cal fouls — in one possession.
M mr xsaater*!
Sweet! Dairy Queen
has a Duck Buck
coupon this term.
■
The Ducks didn’t secure the win
until sophomore point guard Kourt
nev Shreve hit two free throws with
16.2 seconds remaining, and Felicia
Ragland, OSU shooting guard and
premier Pac-10 player, threw up an
airball from near the free-throw line.
“It was tough tonight, there’s no
doubt about it,” Oregon head coach
Jody Runge said. “They really want
ed it and they played very, very hard.”
Senior forward Brianne Meharry
led the Ducks with 21 points, con
necting 8 of 13 from the field and 5
for-6 from the free-throw line.
“Our team was extremely fo
cused,” said Meharry, who sprained
her left ankle Dec. 16 against Utah
and is playing with slight soreness.
“This is the most excited that we have
been for any game that we have
played this year. We were definitely
prepared for this game and taking it
very seriously.”
Ragland single-handedly kept Ore
gon State in the game, posting 24
points, 11 rebounds and six assists,
falling short of the rare triple-double.
Her trio of three-pointers, all quick
pull-ups from the top of the arc, came
just when it seemed as if Oregon
would break the game open. Her fi
nal trey, with 56.2 seconds left, nar
rowed the score to 68-64.
Ragland then stole the inbound
pass and scored a quick layup to
make it a two-point game, but the
Beavers missed three of four free
throws in the final minute. Oregon
made three-of-four from the stripe in
the same span.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes
down the stretch,” Ragland said.
“We’ve got to stay focused to the end. I
thought we did well down the stretch,
but we had a few key turnovers.”
“Felicia is unbelievable when it
comes to shooting the basketball and
she definitely did a great job of mak
Tom Patterson Emerald
Oregon’s Lindsey Dion continues to recover from injuries incurred earlier this season.
ing big plays to keep them in it down
the stretch,” Runge said. “But I
thought our kids did a tremendous
job of defending tonight, and a much
better job of keeping them off the of
fensive boards.”
Senior forward Lindsey Dion had
14 points and a team-high four assists
for Oregon, and senior forward An
gelina Wolvert scored 12 points and
grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Emotions boiled over near the end
of the first half when Dion dove for a
lose ball, colliding with Ragland and
knocking her to the floor. Ragland im
mediately jumped up and got in
Dion’s face, but cooler heads pre
vailed and the players were separat
ed. Dion and Ragland were issued
technical fouls.
Before the collision, Dion and Ore
gon State forward Brina Chaney were
issued double personal fouls when
they locked and tangled in the key.
The most pivotal outburst of the
game happened with 3:59 to play and
the Ducks leading 62-60. Meharry
and OSU center Ericka Cook
bumped, tripped and fell in a heap
while running down the court.
“I went down on tire floor against
Cook — she’s a very good defensive
player—and she kicked me,” Mehar
ry said. “I don’t know if it was on pur
pose or an accident, but the ref caught
it, and there was a lot of contact there.
“When I got up and tried to run by
her and bumped her, the whole
crowd saw that and screamed, but the
refs caught the first foul. ”
Meharry made both free throws on
the one-plus-one opportunity.
“I wouldn’t say it was an end-all
play, but I’m curious that he blew his
whistle before she tripped, then
looked like he didn’t know what to
call,” Oregon State head coach Judy
Spoelstra said.
1
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